NIT Rourkela chief security officer arrested for sexually harassing tribal women

Rourkela: Chief Security Officer (CSO) of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela, accused of sexually harassing two tribal women security guards, was on Sunday arrested after absconding for about a fortnight, police said. Acting on a specific information, a police team nabbed Balaram Champatiray from Jagada under Jhirpani Police Station jurisdiction when he was proceeding to a relative’s house, DSP Zone-1, P K Mishra said. [caption id=“attachment_2808954” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] Champatiray was withdrawing money from ATMs and police personnel were trying to keep his movements under surveillance, he said. The accused was produced before a court which sent him to 14 days judicial custody after rejecting his bail application, Mishra said. Rourkela Police had launched a manhunt to nab Champatiray, who had been at large since he escaped from NIT Rourkela on 29 May after complaints were lodged against him by two women security guards of sexually harassing them. A fact-finding team constituted by the NIT director had also found truth in the allegations made by the women security guards, sources said. The incident had come to the fore after a video clipping showing a woman security guard sitting on the CSO’s lap in his office room in NIT, police said. The episode had triggered uproar in the prestigious institute as students launched an agitation demanding his immediate dismissal and arrest. Subsequently, the Human Resource Development Ministry had also sent a senior official to probe the matter.